Fix It Forward winners: Restad, Johnson, Kesselberg, Nord, Jahnz and Taves

Fix It Forward Speedway in West Fargo was back in action for the first time since July 3 with a strong 109-car field on hand. Some familiar faces found victory lane while one driver won his first career feature, and another claimed her first IMCA sprint feature win.

The weather looked grim for a while and there were a few sprinkles, but the storms stayed to the south and west. Between the fair and the layoff, I was wondering what the track would be like. The track had some major holes to contend with, especially on the frontstretch.

Kyle VanMil of Barnesville led early in the IMCA Sport Mod feature, but the Turkey Man James Taves of Glyndon would take the lead.  Carter Restad of West Fargo would move into second ahead of VanMil with Brody Johnson of Moorhead chasing him. Lane Johnson of Leonard moved into fifth.The caution flew for a multi car pileup in turns one and two that involved Scott Jacobson, Kelly Jacobson, Charlie Iensen and Stan Tomlinson of Turtle Lake. The Jacobsons both had damage but continued; Tomlinson and Jensen were done. I was typing on my phone and didn’t see the cause.Taves had some breathing room over Restad, who was still contending with VanMil. Jayden Pavlicek had moved to fifth.

As the race went on, the lead was shrinking as Carter Restad found something on a higher line.  Taves would clip a tire which cost him some ground.  With four to go Restad made what would be the winning pass on the outside of Taves, and would go on to claim his first career victory by 1.17 seconds. Taves was second, VanMil third. Brody Johnson has made big time strides in his 84 machine and took fourth ahead of Pavlicek. Paul Colvin of Horace was the hard charger, going from 18th to 10th.Mason Lemar of Casselton led the INEX Legends feature early, but Restad was chatting and would take the lead. Sean Johnson of Kindred was closing fast and soon was all over the 27.Alex Clark of Moorhead was third, Lemar fourth and Tanner Riewer of Detroit Lakes in fifth with Ryan Braseth of Ulen closing.Johnson stuck his 58 to the bottom and surged into the lead and began pulling away. Clark and Lemar were close for third as Riewer was trying to fight off a challenge from Scott Richardson of Pelican Rapids.Johnson’s lead stood at two seconds with a few laps remaining but was erased with a caution with two laps left.It didn’t stop Johnson as he pulled away from Restad to earn the win. Restad held off Clark for second. Lemar edged Richardson for fourth by .067 seconds.Dan Aberle of Finley pulled ahead of Kalvin Kesselberg of Ada for the first few laps but Kesselberg would take over the lead – and the fight for the win was over after that. Brody Carlsrud of Moorhead, Thursdays winner at NCR, was third with Rick Schulz, Rob VanMil and Todd Heinrich fighting very hard for spots 3-5.Carlsrud and Aberle had a good battle for second before Carlsrud grabbed the spot. Teammates Schulz and Heinrich were fighting side by side for fourth with Tim Gonska of Brainerd on their heels.While all that was going on, Kesselberg checked out. He built a 6.9 second lead and cruised to an unchallenged win. Carlsrud survived a good duel with Aberle for second.  Schulz was fourth and Heinrich fifth.

Kyler Nielsen of Kathryn led the IMCA Modified feature early but broke coming out of turn two and would leave on the hook.William Wadeson inherited the lead but Brennan Borg of Harwood was applying the heat. Brandon Langer of Alice was third. Dustin Hines spun to bring out the second caution.Borg took the lead as John Nord had climbed to second past Wadeson. The third caution flew for Tom Andring’s spin in turn three.Borg immediately had a challenge from Nord who made the pass one lap later. John Moller of Alice was running in third while Langer and Shawn Wiest of Fargo fought for third.Nord extended his lead to two seconds over Borg who had a big advantage on third place Miller. Langer was closing on miller as Zack Nord moved into fifth.Zack Nord would pass both Miller and Langer for third as the top two were well ahead.John Nord turned the race into a total route, dominating by 4.2 seconds.

Borg was a solid second. Zack Nord made a big charge to third from 17^th after winning the B main. Miller and Langer capped off good runs in fourth and fifth respectively.Daniel Beckman of Mahnomen took the lead in the IMCA Hobby Stocks with Caleb Gardner of Glyndon in second. Austin   Jahnz was on the move and after a caution would be in second. He made the pass on the outside.

Hunter Goulet’s 701 broke and stalled in turn two to bring out the yellow.  Jahnz resumed leading with Kyler Safran of Minot had climbed to second. Beckman was third, Brooklyn Tomlinson who had ran in the top five for a while spun in turn two to bring out the yellow.

Jahnz stayed out front with Safran in second and Reid Randall of Park Rapids climbing to third. Randall would slide high, opening the door for Tim Church to take the spot.Ethan Beckedal and Randall raced side by side for fourth as Jahnz stretched the lead to 2.3 seconds. The top three spread out but Jahnz was in control for the win. Safran was second, church third, Randall fourth and Beckedal fifth.

For those wondering where Lewisville, Minn., is, it is about 20 miles north of Fairmont in south central Minnesota. The 32 Jahnz cars race weekly at Arlington and Redwood Speedways. Austin Jahnz, who won at NCR on Thursday, is having quite a season with 14 wins since the season started in April.

The IMCA RaceSaver sprints capped off the night, and that feature turned into the Kate Taves show with a complete domination of the field.

Zayden Braaten, who won his first career heat race early in the evening, took the lead, with Taves, from Detroit Lakes, in second. Bryce Haugeberg was running third, Evan Hendrickson of Mapleton fourth and Brandon Rekow of Ellendale was in fifth.

Taves was closing and would take the lead, although Braaten would regain the spot for a few laps. Taves moved back in front and by the eighth lap, had a 2.2 second lead. She was gone after that. Haugeberg had grabbed second as Hendrickson was in third, Rekow fourth and Matthew Taves of Detroit Lakes was now in fifth.

By the halfway point Taves had built the lead to three seconds; Jerzee Rosinski of Grand Forks had worked into the top five.   The llead grew to more than five seconds late in the race as Taves ran away for her first IMCA sprint win. She did have some wins in the Lightning Sprint division.

Braaten had a career-best run in second, Hendrickson was third, Haugeberg fourth and Rekow fifth in a caution-free main event (The only one of the night).

Fix It Forward Notes

--Travis Robertson of Fargo debuted a Rage Chassis IMCA Modified on Friday. He traded one of the team’s two late models for the car because they wanted to race in West Fargo. He still will race his late model in the region.--Hendrickson was doing double duty on Friday. In addition to driving his IMCA sprint, he was piloting an IMCA modified owned by Cody  so Erickson. Erickson raced that car on the Dakota Classic Tour and they were looking to sort a few things out.--Former track champ Ryan Restad of West Fargo rolled his IMCA Sport Mod on Thursday at Norman County Raceway. He was diagnosed with a concussion which meant no racing on Friday. His said the 7R  car was pretty torn up but picked up another car Friday morning and hopefully he will be back on the track soon.

--IMCA Modified driver Jeff Odden has done a lot of work at the fairgrounds, including a lot of work in the pit area. He built a wood frame for the pit bleachers to sit on, greatly improving the view (with a standing area slated to be built behind); he’s built a pair of wood walkways for folks to stand on; and he said a VIP area will be added as well in the pits.

--Several new faces were on hand in the IMCA Sprints, including Hannah and Owen Graf of Glencoe, Kinzlee Giessinger of Watertown and Jeremy Kerzman of Grey Eagle.

--The most bizarre heat race I’ve seen all year occurred in the IMCA Modifieds. Dave Shipley of Argusville was leading but broke and got loose; Lindsey Hansen of Fargo caught him for the lead and as they went into 3-4 Shipley shut it down. Hansen was underneath and got squeezed, and the two made contact. Hansen hit an infield tire hard and both cars came to a halt. Wadeson was running third and had to slow for that. The car running almost a half a lap behind, Shawn Wiest, would come up and steal the win. Hansen’s right side was a mess, and the unfortunate thing was both he and Shipley were done for the night. It was a bad deal.

Rodin wins Kyle Preston Memorial at I-94

Lucas Rodin of Marion won the Kyle Preston Memorial Wissota Midwest Modified feature Friday night at I-94 EMR Speedway.  The win was worth more than $3,700. Tanner Bitzan of Brandon was second, young Noah McFarlane of Brandon was third, Tyler Bitzan of Brandon fourth and Casey Knabbe of Kensington was fifth.

Dave Mass of East Bethel won the Gen X Late Model special with Parker Gilbertson of Montevideo second. Trevor Walsh of Watertown was third, Rick Schroeder of Montevideo fourth

Landon Atkinson of Little Falls topped Travis Saurer of Elizabeth for the Wissota Modified win. Brady Gerdes of Villard was third, Joseph Thomas of Glyndon fourth and Ryan Gierke of Villard fifth.

Kyle Dykhoff of Starbuck won the Wissota Street Stock feature. Dykhoff and his wife Haley welcomed their second child, a daughter, this week. Eric Riley of Morris was second, Levi Randt of Siren third, Braedyn Fleck of Cold Spring fourth and Joe Martin of Willmar fifth.

Chase Pourrier of Fergus Falls won the Wissota Hornet feature with Eli Green of Osakis second. Emma Nelson of Fergus Falls was third, Lincoln Miller of Fergus Falls fourth and Ayden Machow of Fergus Falls was fifth.

Hunter, Greseth, TPO and Dobmeier win at River Cities

Austin Hunter of Winnipeg won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks. Nate Raasakka of Grand Forks was second, Aaron Blacklance of Thief River Falls third, Frank Veert of Winnipeg fourth and Jory Berg of Grand Forks was fifth.

Cole Greseth of Harwood picked up another Wissota Street Stock main event victory. Doug VanMill of Bagley was second, John Halvorson of Warren third, Greg Jose of Grand Forks fourth and Blaine Barnes of Grand Forks fifth.

Tyler Peterson of Hickson won the Wissota Late Model feature over Tucker Pederson of East Grand Forks. Jason Strand of Portland was third, John Seng of Grand Forks fourth and Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks fifth.

Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks won the NOSA Sprint feature with Jade Hastings of Grand Forks second. Nick Omdahl of East Grand Forks was third, Tom Egeland of Climax fourth and Jack Croaker of East Grand Forks fifth.

Friday notes

--The Dirt Race Central Street Stock tour was rained out at Brown County Speedway after the completion of the B feature. BCS will run double features tomorrow in all classes, which includes a $5,000 to win Tri-State Late Model feature.

--Tracks cancelling for the weekend because of the excessive heat warning: Buffalo River Speedway in Glyndon, Viking Speedway in Alexandria, Arlington Raceway and Madison Speedway. I want to wish Jason Berg, promoter of BRS, a quick recovery after spending time in the hospital this past week.

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